and orange trees. The mulberry tree, if not
indigenous, was found here at so early a period that it is a matter of
doubt as to its having been imported from other lands. It grows to
great perfection, and has led to several attempts in the direction of
silk-raising, the silkworm also proving more prolific even than in
Japan. Some of the fine, hard fancy woods of Cuba were employed in the
finish of apartments in the Escurial palace near Madrid. Ebony,
rosewood, fustic, lancewood, mahogany, and other choice woods are very
abundant, especially the mahogany, which grows to enormous size. The
exportation of them has only taken place where these woods were best
located for river transportation to harbors on the coast. The interior
of the island is so inaccessible that it has hardly been explored.
There are fertile valleys there of two hundred miles in length and
thirty in width, with an average temperature of 75 deg., a maximum of 88 deg.,
and a minimum of 52 deg., thus affording a most perfect and healthful
climate, favorable to human and to vegetable life, and it should be
remembered that malarial diseases or yellow fever are unknown in the
districts removed from the coast, and no one ever heard of sunstroke
in Cuba.

It is somewhat remarkable that there should be no poisonous animals or
reptiles in the island, but so we were creditably informed. Snakes of
various species abound, but are considered entirely harmless, though
they are sometimes destructive to domestic fowls. During a pleasant
trip between San Antonio and Alquizar in a volante with a hospitable
planter of that region, this subject happened to be under discussion,
when we saw in the roadway a snake six or eight feet long, and as
large round as the middle of one's arm. On pointing it out to our
friend, he merely told us its species, and declared that a child might
sleep with it unharmed. In the mean time it was a relief to see the
innocent creature hasten to secrete itself in a lime hedge close at
hand. Lizards, tarantulas, and chameleons are frequently seen, but
are considered to be harmless. One often awakes in the morning to see
lizards upon his chamber wall, searching for flies and insects, upon
which they feed.

The Cuban bloodhound, of which we hear so much, is not a native of the
island, but belongs to an imported breed, resembling the English
mastiff, though with larger head and limbs. He is by nature a fierce,
bloodthirsty animal, but the particular q